Love, Sex & Frankenstein

Author Caroline Lea
Narrator Florence Howard
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 19 June 2025
Run Time 11 hours and 27 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Biographical fiction, Feminism and feminist theory, Historical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, 1816.
The dark summer that birthed a monster . . .

Eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. Tormented by Shelley’s betrayals, haunted by the loss of their baby and suspicious of her sister’s intentions, Mary seeks a refuge.

But Lord Byron’s villa, lying under ominous, ash-shrouded skies, feels more like a trap.
When Byron suggests each guest write a supernatural tale, Mary is as drawn to the challenge as she is, unexpectedly, to Byron himself.

And so an idea begins to form in her mind . . .

It spills out of her in thick, black ink.
A thing given life is before her.

Day and night, it possesses her.
Her heart, her desires.

But is she in control, or is it?

In this hauntingly evocative feminist retelling, Caroline Lea delves into the female rage, creative madness and steamy scandal that bore the world's most famous work of gothic fiction. Perfect for fans of The Essex Serpent and The Manningtree Witches.

© Caroline Lea 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

Lea creates a world that is so vividly realised, it is astonishing to read. All her characters are wonderfully nuanced, and you cannot help but fall in love with Mary, whose journey as an artist and as a woman is both absolutely heartbreaking and truly inspiring. This is a deeply moving, magical book from a consummate storyteller

Elodie Harper, author of The Wolf Den

Utterly compelling and immersive. I was hooked from the first page and looked forward to every moment I could spend with this stunning novel. Hauntingly beautiful, dangerous and magnificent, the isolated villa on Lake Geneva and the wild storms which battered it held me captive, as I witnessed Mary Shelley's transformation from lovesick teenager to a fiercely feminist young. In short: I have been altered by this novel

Anya Bergman, author of The Witches of Vardo

Beautifully written and wonderfully intense, this is no glamorous story of the rock star poets and their female muses but a rendition of absolute powerlessness turned around through sheer force of will. Lea throws light onto the true brilliance of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, a girl raised to believe in freedom who would live out her beliefs against all the odds. A thrilling read

Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Disobedient

A deliciously dark reimagining of the birth of literature's greatest monster, Love, Sex & Frankenstein is at once a heartbreaking Gothic love story and a chilling study of rage, betrayal and the mysterious origins of the creative impulse. A triumph

Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters

Love, Sex & Frankenstein is an intoxicating tale about the monsters suppressed inside us. Fury and passion, obsession and revenge sizzle beneath the surface as out-of-this-world prose spins the book to a powerful, sensual grand finale. What a firecracker of a story - it completely swept me off my feet!

Fiza Saeed McLynn, author of The Midnight Carousel

An astonishing and spectacular book. I felt I was there every step of the way with Mary Shelley as she experienced the desperate pain of her love for Shelley, her desire for Byron and most importantly the battle to find her own voice and write her masterpiece, Frankenstein. A wonderful book about loving the monster inside us all and the freedom that can bring. There are rare moments when an author creates something they were born to write and this is Caroline's moment. This book is an absolute masterpiece. Brava.

Julie Owen-Moylan, author of 73 Dove Street

The best rendition of Mary Shelley to be found in a novel. Here is a glorious story of female awakening and rage. Brava

Essie Fox, author of The Fascination

Richly woven, gorgeously addictive, this is a true Gothic novel about life, death, desire, fury and passion. Conjuring the transformation that comes when we look into the dark shadows of the soul and acknowledge the longing that resides there, I absolutely loved this novel

Joanne Burn, author of The Bone Hunters

An exquisitely-written Gothic thriller that captures the horror and romance of the life of Mary Shelley and the circumstances that gave birth to Frankenstein. Lea shows how Mary Shelley finds her strength and anger to create new life, bringing the past alive with sensitive insight. Wonderful

Laura Shepperson, author of The Heroines

Nothing short of astonishing. A powerful, brutal and exquisitely crafted story of women's rage, will and passion. You will never think about Frankenstein the same way again

Kim Curran, author of The Morrigan

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